RIP Vic Chesnutt


Kristin Hersh's comment on Chesnutt's passing:
What this man was capable of was superhuman. Vic was brilliant, hilarious and necessary; his songs messages from the ether, uncensored. He developed a guitar style that allowed him to play bass, rhythm and lead in the same song — this with the movement of only two fingers. His fluid timing was inimitable, his poetry untainted by influences. He was my best friend.
I never saw the wheelchair—it was invisible to me—but he did. When our dressing room was up a flight of stairs, he'd casually tell me that he'd meet me in the bar. When we both contracted the same illness, I told him it was the worst pain I'd ever felt. "I don't feel pain," he said. Of course. I'd forgotten. When I asked him to take a walk down the rain spattered sidewalk with me, he said his hands would get wet. Sitting on stage with him, I would request a song and he'd flip me off, which meant, "This finger won't work today." I saw him as unassailable—huge and wonderful, but I think Vic saw Vic as small, broken. And sad.
I don't know if I'll ever be able to listen to his music again, but I know how vital it is that others hear it. When I got the phone call I'd been dreading for the last fifteen years, I lost my balance. My whole being shifted to the left; I couldn't stand up without careening into the wall and I was freezing cold. I don't think I like this planet without Vic; I swore I would never live here without him. But what he left here is the sound of a life that pushed against its constraints, as all lives should. It's the sound of someone on fire. It makes this planet better.
And if I'm honest with myself, I admit that I still feel like he's here, but free of his constraints. Maybe now he really is huge. Unbroken. And happy.

Love,
Kristin






Comments

Anonymous said…
sad day...(scott - thanks for the recording from way back)
Anonymous said…
are you still alive?
the argus leader say you be gone...
Anonymous said…
Dear Scott:

Kurt the Troll here. And like the other person said, your name is in the Argus Obituaries. I'm assuming that since the Anonymous blogger from 10:47am got his/her comment on your site, that you're still alive. But just so I'm not visited by three ghosts anytime soon, could you type a statement that rumors of your passing have been greatly exaggerated .
Thank You.
Sad Troll Dec. 29
Anonymous said…
Scott Philip HudsonAug 11 1960 - Dec 27 2009
Scott Hudson age 49, died Sunday December 27, 2009 at Avera McKennan Hospital. Public visitation begins at 1:00 PM Wednesday December 30th at Miller Funeral Home 13th & Main Ave., with family greeting friends from 5-7:00 PM. Funeral services will begin at 1:00 PM Thursday at Miller Funeral Home. After cremation at Miller Funeral Home Crematory, burial in the spring will take place at Scotty Philips Cemetery, Ft. Pierre, SD. A complete obituary is pending.

Scott was born in Pierre, SD on August 11, 1960 to Gale and JoAnn (Milner) Hudson. Scott was the oldest of three children. He attended various grade schools and junior high schools in South Dakota and Iowa before graduating from Lincoln High School in Des Moines, IA in 1978.
After graduating from high school, he relocated to Sioux Falls where he would work as a Senior Pressman for over 29 years. In October of 1982, he was married to Joan M. Bowling. The couple had two children; Philip Thomas and Catherine Elizabeth. He continued to reside in Sioux Falls until the time of his death.
Scott was an avid outdoorsman. He had a passion for hunting birds, fishing, bow hunting and raising dogs. For several years in the early 1990s he was a guide for the Governor’s Hunt.
Grateful for having shared his life are his wife, Joan, of Sioux Falls, SD; his children Philip Hudson and Catherine Hudson of Sioux Falls, SD; siblings, Lori (Jeff) Dunlap of Kansas City, MO and Michael (Terri) Hudson of Mt. Juliet, TN; parents, Gale (Verlyn) Hudson of Bridgewater, SD and JoAnn (Bob) Hummel of Kansas City, MO; grandmother, Marian Hudson of Pierre, SD. He is also survived by numerous step-siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins. He was preceded in death by his paternal grandfather, Philip “Potty” Hudson, his maternal grandparents Harold and Betty Milner, and cousin Tyler Wilcox.


Miller Funeral Home 507 S. Main Ave. Sioux Falls, SD 57104 605-336-2640
Miller West 6200 W. 41st St. Sioux Falls, SD 57106 605-361-6394

So now I know it's not you. Didn't say anything about destroying an FM station.

Popular Posts